Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

So I'm thinking of going to Shanghai for a long weekend.
What is there to actually to there, apart from the international expo. thing, and the western style bars, cafes and clubs? (I read something about some 'water parks' or something... but have no idea.)

And, what's the best company for getting there? Soho Travel, or is a China-specific company better due to the visa thing? (The Chinese Embassy website says that their nominated travel offices should charge relatively tiny fees for visa issuance as compared to all the others... Are there any that speak English sufficiently?) (I'm in the south west of the country, and though there is an airport in Muan, the planes only fly from there every Wednesday and Saturday but I want to go on the Friday and return on the Sunday, but still it would interesting if anyone has flown with China Eastern Airlines from Muan.)

[rollo]

The Bund ,lots of beautiful 19th century buildings mostly British. Peoples park, the area around there has Western bars and any kind of food imaginable. Go to the Barbarossa lounge in the center of peoples park. the porch and japanese garden surrounding it and the atmosphere are great. Take a river cruise, the skyline at night is awesome. Shanghai art museum in the peoples park area. Anything you want. It is an international city.

[metalhead]

Shanghai is good for a weekend, personally, I love China, but don't like Shanghai much - quite honestly, I'd go to Nanjing or Suzhou instead.

Be careful in Shanghai though, there are excellent western bars and food, the cost is easily twice as much as other places in China for that. I haven't been there for a while, but I *think* it's the street is called Tong Ren Jie, check out the Big Bamboo for food, cute waitresses, decent beer, lively atmosphere (it's a sports bar) and other bars in that area for drinking.

People-wise, nowhere near as friendly as the rest of China, although if simple exploring is your thing Shanghai does have great architecture. Shanghainese cuisine is pretty good, a little sweet as is common in that part of China but there's good xiao long bao (cheap) and decent roast duck with plum sauce.

You'll be spoiled with western food options, can get pretty much anything there.

[austinmc86]

How do u get a visa for China?

I would like to visit Shanghai/Beijing as well.

[metalhead]

[oskinny1]

[sugarloaf82]

I am going to China and just got my visa at a travel agent in Myeong dong for 190,000 won (I'm American and they just upped the price). As an American I got a double-entry visa valid for 6 months (it's the same price as a single-entry).

My friend I'm going with is not American and his single-entry cost him 45,000 won. We used one of the agencies on the street walking up towards Namsan Tower's cable car from Myeong Dong station exit 3.

These were the cheapest prices we found. We had already purchased our tickets and a lot of travel agencies were adding on additional fees because of that (almost all the travel agents in Itaewon, etc).

The process was pretty straightforward and it took 4 business days to process it.

[Gamecock]

If you don't want to go to the expo, I would recommend waiting until after it is finished to visit Shanghai. TOO MANY PEOPLE.